The Secrets of the Oldest Footprints Ever Found

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Images Courtesy of Getty Images
Credits:
Narrated and Directed by
Stephanie Sammann
Written by
Lorraine Boissoneault
Produced, Animated, 3D Art by
Mike Ridolfi
Animated & Illustrated by
Kirtan Patel
Edited by
Dylan Hennessy
David O’Sullivan
Executive Producer
Dave Wiskus
Executive Producer
Brian McManus
Executive Producers
PJ Scott-Blankenship
Trenton Waterson
Graham Haerther
Nebula Creative Directors
Dom Burgess
Simon Buckmaster
Nebula Content Producer
Eric Schneider
Graphic Designer
Simon Buckmaster
Title Design by
Max Moser
Post Production Coordinator
Zara Glaze
Supervising Sound Editor
Graham Haerther
Sound Design
Donovan Bullen
Special Thanks to
Gemma Arnott
Brad Phillipi
Nick Arnott
Bradford Dillon
Brianne Bell
Sources
iho.asu.edu/about/lucys-story
www.sciencedirect.com/science...
royalsocietypublishing.org/do...
www.sciencedirect.com/science...
www.sciencedirect.com/science...
journals.plos.org/plosone/art...
www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/austra...
"Homo floresiensis cranium" (skfb.ly/oCVXy) by Digital Atlas of Ancient Life is licensed under CC Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike (creativecommons.org/licenses/b....
"Homo erectus Skull" (skfb.ly/69UCP) by Ohio State University Art and Design is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution (creativecommons.org/licenses/b....
"Homo ergaster cranium" (skfb.ly/oDAM9) y Digital Atlas of Ancient Life is licensed under CC Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike (creativecommons.org/licenses/b....
"Homo neanderthalensis (réplica)" skfb.ly/6QSYK) by Museo [UV] Historia Natural is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution (creativecommons.org/licenses/b....
"Homo erectus Cranium" skfb.ly/6QXIK) by gwuanthro is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution (creativecommons.org/licenses/b....
Taung Child Skull byRadiolabis licensed under the Creative Commons - Attribution - Non-Commercial license.
"Homo sapiens (2501.1rp35) - cranium" skfb.ly/6QUBV) by RLA Archaeology is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial (creativecommons.org/licenses/b....

[@jaywilliams8386]

I've been a student of this subject since childhood, and I'm an old lady now and a retired primate caretaker. This is an excellent talk and it's great to see that interest in our human origins and what we are as a species has never died but progressed. Thank you.

[@TheSmokinducks]

The 'running ape' . Sprinting is a great way to avoid predators but 'Seeing' the predator first is paramount. In all the suggestions of the reason for bipedalism in apes I have never heard mentioned the fact that an upright posture makes it easier to turn the whole torso, and then the neck , to look behind and scan the area (pretty much like meerkats) for predators. So this may be another contributing factor...along with wading in water, and carrying things, heat...etc

[@earthknight60]

It's worth noting that gorillas and chimpanzees knuckle-walk in different ways, indicating that they evolved 3-legged walking independently from each other and that it's not an ancestral trait. This is part of what's been leading more and more people to consider that some level of bipedalism may be the ancestral trait of apes and that we are the only ones who retained it.

[@cubearthx]

The idea that Australopithecus was making tools over 3mil years ago is mind blowing!

[@Fantastic_Mr_Fox]

9:36

[@ThePlayfarer]

Ah yes, the original feet pics.

[@daytonmorehead7330]

A small oddity at

[@atharvapawar4]

Biology is Beauty !!

[@alicethegrinsecatz6011]

I much appreciate your videos for how easy they're to understand. I'm from East Germany, and so, I was taught by teachers, who had actually studied Russian and had either studied English only as a minor subject without passion or only later had English as a further education, for the most of my school time. Just in the last 3 years, I got a teacher who only studied Russian to be allowed to study English. This is why I'm struggling with English, but some creators like you make it so easy that often when I wanna share it with other people, I stopped for a moment because I'm not sure if they understand it, too. Sometimes, I wanna share it with people who may not understand Englisch, and then, I realize I totally forgot it was English content. Sometimes, I wanna share it with English speaking people, and my first thought is that it would be dumb to share German content. So, try to imagine exactly what I saw and heard, and this is the point when I realize the magic. I remember the complete side, even the advertising at the borders. I remember the text, not in English but in German. I remember the voice in the video, even yours, but they don't speak English in my head, but German. So, I go back, and I am confused by realizing it never was on German. This is every time again when I stop thinking it only could be German because I didn't struggle to understand it, and start thinking I'm not that bad in English as I think. The problem is rather that I built up a barrier every time when I'm forced to speak or understand English because I wanna stay in my comfort zone. I really appreciate this because this is a source of motivation to practice English, which is something I completely missed in my entire school life. I'm on the one hand sad about to have missed so much over these years, but I'm much more happy about to enjoy another cool language and so much more interesting stuff now.

[@Bbbuddy]

I’ve seen adults in the Amazon area who have almost never worn shoes, and their feet look much different from my North American feet.

[@kori228]

0:36

[@zaddyjacquescormery6613]

The shot of a gorilla punching a termite mound at

[@wheelchair_charlie]

Im writing this before seeing the video but I just wanted to say I got giddy when I saw that you were doing one on the oldest footprints and what information you were going to dig up on those amazing prints. I'll come back and edit after I see the video... Always amazed at the info packed into a 15min video! I love all the reasons you gave for why we started standing up since those prints were made and how they were made over 3.5 million years ago!! I feel smarter than I was 15mins ago! ;) Thank you RS!

[@ryanreedgibson]

Your content is a credit to KZbin. Another great video! It explains why my German Shephard becomes more fatigued that me during our walks. I thought it was just due to her less-efficient way of cooling through paw pads, nose, and mouth.

[@ian4846]

This definitely checks out. A lot of what causes foot pain for me is the way that my foot distributes weight very poorly

[@danidavis7912]

Good video - only one very minor correction - the co-discoverer of Lucy was Donald "Johanson", not "Johnson" as stated in the narration. Minor yes, but names are important.

[@someonewhoisgreek6186]

The fact that modern humans as a species have existed for more than 150,000 years really puts in perspective the timescale of the progress of evolution. The first civilizations only appeared a couple thousand years ago. For me it is fascinating to think about how we will at some point have become a new different species

[@harrietharlow9929]

As a member of the great apes, I am endlessly fascinated by all things primate. And that includes all of our ancestors. After all, they helped to make us what we are. I find it particularly interesting that bipedalism evolved before the bigger brain. We were taught the opposite when I was in high school. This is what I like about studying human evolution--always something new to earn.

[@dadisacek]

Insanely well documented. It should be presented at school as a lecture

[@NicholasLeeson]

My readings into this subject indicate the ancestors of Australopithecus were most likely Shore-Based, in which case, they would have walked through shallow ponds / rivers, which in turn would have reduced the weight on their hips... which would have allowed them to walk upright for longer periods. Generations upon Generations of this behaviour would have pre-selected for more appropriate hips, to extend the amount of time walking upright in the water that was possible. This then would have translated to walking on dry land too. For example, Chimps can walk upright now, on dry land, but not for very long, since their hips are not designed for that; but when they walk through water, they can walk upright for a much longer time, before it starts to hurt. Trouble is they rarely walk through water, so there's no evolutionary pressure for their hips to change. If the ancestors of Australopithecus were indeed shore based, they may have been gathering mollusks for food, which would have provided them with more DHA-Omega3, which would have been another first step to increasing the brain size. With the Hips now evolved for better upright walking, the foot was now in a better position to start evolving for larger weight too, but also for fore-foot running. And when we started to do Persistent Hunts, the long distance running had the benefit of producing Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF), which also would have had a positive influence on increasing our brain size. There's also the thinking that mushrooms additionally played a big role in creating new connections within the brain, i.e. the stoned ape hypothesis.